The House version of Republicans’ major tax code revision would would remove a deduction graduate students can use to deduct the value of their tuition in exchange for working or doing research. Taxes for graduate students could climb by hundreds, and in some cases thousands of dollars.

With 41 million Americans officially in poverty according to the US Census Bureau (other estimates put that figure much higher), one aim of the UN mission will be to demonstrate that no country, however wealthy, is immune from human suffering induced by growing inequality. Nor is any nation, however powerful, beyond the reach of human rights law – a message that the US government and Donald Trump might find hard to stomach given their tendency to regard internal affairs as sacrosanct.

Grusky added that the US reaction to Alston’s visit could go either way. “It has the potential to open our eyes to what an outlier the US has become compared with the rest of the world, or it could precipitate an adverse reaction towards an outsider who has no legitimacy telling us what to do about internal US affairs.”

Alston’s findings will be announced in preliminary form in Washington on 15 December, and then presented as a full report to the UN human rights council in Geneva next June. An especially unpredictable element of the fallout will be how Trump himself receives the final report, given the president’s habit of lashing out at anyone perceived to criticize him or his administration.

In many other ways, though, the Trump administration in its first year has taken a radically hostile approach towards communities in need. He has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to abolish Obamacare in a move that would deprive millions of low-income families of healthcare insurance, was widely criticized for his lackluster response to the hurricane disaster in Puerto Rico that has left thousands homeless and without power, and is currently pushing a tax reform that would benefit one group above all others: the super rich.

It also found that the US hit rock bottom in terms of the safety net it offers struggling families, and is one of the worst offenders in terms of the ability of low-income families to lift themselves out of poverty – a stark contrast to the much-vaunted myth of the American dream.

Re: Tax bill passes another nightmare

Stock market indices like the DOW don't represent the health of the economy or reality. As big businesses get richer, the less it's a true representation of the market or economy. The National Federation of Independent Business index for example is not breaking records and hasn't been.

The rich get richer and more distant in their own alternate reality and the DOW shows this same capitalism wealth pyramid scheme. All the DOW shows is that the wealthiest companies and people in the world are getting wealthier leaving behind the other 7 some billion people.

Don't be fooled by the indices or stocks in general that are just betting mechanisms.

Re: Tax bill passes another nightmare

zetreque » Sun Dec 03, 2017 3:02 am wrote:Stock market indices like the DOW don't represent the health of the economy or reality. As big businesses get richer, the less it's a true representation of the market or economy. The National Federation of Independent Business index for example is not breaking records and hasn't been.

The rich get richer and more distant in their own alternate reality and the DOW shows this same capitalism wealth pyramid scheme. All the DOW shows is that the wealthiest companies and people in the world are getting wealthier leaving behind the other 7 some billion people.

Don't be fooled by the indices or stocks in general that are just betting mechanisms.

I agree with this sentiment -- every time I see the DOW break a new record I just think that though I may have made a few hundred bucks in my retirement account some rich bastard just made millions.